The Achievement of Pride
by Ban Moroichi
Summary: Naruto did not survive having the Kyuubi sealed within him and is dead. At least that is what Konoha believes. Taken by Orochimaru, Naruto will harness a power never before seen, Senbonzakura. REWRITE of Petal in the Maelstrom of Sound. NAruto/Karin.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach. These belong to their respective owners who have made the world that much better with their creative genius.**

**REWRITE FOR PETAL IN THE MAELSTROM OF SOUND!**

XxxX

Sarutobi Hiruzen swallowed the lump in his throat as he gripped the railing of the stage overlooking the main square in front of the Hokage Tower. His throat felt dry and tight, a sensation he could not remember feeling in many years, not since his first kill in matter of fact.

"Men, women and children of Konoha." He started slowly, taking comfort in his old teammates and advisers who were flanking him. "Today marks a dark day for us all. We have all lost family, we have all lost friends. The Kyuubi no Kitsune, has taken much from us all."

Sarutobi paused and moving his eyes away from the attentive crowd before glancing up to the Hokage Monument behind him, his eyes lingering on the carved face of his predecessor and successor. The entire Namikaze clan was one loss of many.

"The Yondaime Hokage is dead. So many of our friends and family, are dead." He continued when he turned back to the crowd. "Do not forget them. Do not forget Namikaze Minato. Do not forget Uzumaki Kushina. And, do not forget Uzumaki Naruto. The hero who gave everything to protect a village he never knew from the Kyuubi itself."

XxxX

"Kukuku. So emotional in your old age sensei."

A man turned away from Konoha and the distant sight of the Sandaime delivering an announcement of the end of the Kyuubi's attack and hopped off the tree he had scaled up before stalking over to where he had seen the great demon live it's most recent moments of freedom. Most of the bodies of the fallen Konoha shinobi had already been gathered for burial but the three most important bodies had yet to be recovered by Konoha due to the old man's desire to restore order now rather than after the fallen had been tended to. But this one didn't mind. It gave him the chance to move about and work with ease after all. Digging up bodies did tend to lose it's flair after a while so it was a welcome change for him.

Orochimaru smiled widely and licked his lips in excitement when he entered the large clearing and spotted the bodies of the Yondaime and his family. He did feel for the young man's fate. The death of not only himself, but his wife and son who had just been born. Minato had been quite the gifted Shinobi as had his wife Kushina and it was a shame for them to be taken from the world so soon.

"I would have enjoyed testing my experiments against you Namikaze-kun." The Snake Sannin said lightly as he reached the body and crouched down and rested a small leather bag on the deceased leader's chest before opening it and removing a large empty syringe. "But you can still serve a use. You all can."

Orochimaru moved precisely and without hesitation as he stabbed the syringe into a shallow gash on the side of the Hokage's neck and pulling it out once the vial had been completely filled with his blood. This exact same process was repeated with Kushina as Orochimaru used a wound on her body to hide the signs of tampering as he removed a sample of her blood as well. He took twice the amount from Kushina that he had removed from Minato, knowing full well the rumors that surrounded the Uzumaki clan's bloodline. Rumors of bloodline limits that appeared every so often and even a genetic mutation in the Uzumaki clan that had every member in possession of heightened regeneration capabilities and longevity. The Snake Sannin had made a point long ago that should he ever be given the opportunity, to test the validity of these rumors.

When he had carefully placed the vials back into the leather satchel and sealed it away into a small medical scroll that was designed for cold storage the long haired missing ninja turned his attention to the tiny infant that had been carefully placed in the arms of Kushina. A body that he had been careful not to disturb until now.

"I wonder if you would have survived any of my experiments Naruto-kun." He mused aloud, recalling the name of the infant from what he had heard of the old man's eulogy. "How beautiful could I have made you with some of my experiments. A bloodline? Or would I have given you structural alteration?"

Orochimaru shook his head, dismissing the thoughts of experiments he would never have and reached into a bag that was hanging from a shoulder strap at his side and pulled out a strange looking device that consisted of a bundle of tubes a metal casing and half a dozen wires with suction cups at the ends.

Now, according to his idiot former teammate Jiriaya, Minato had used an Eight Trigrams sealing method to imprison the soul of the Kyuubi as well as its Chakra within the infant but had implemented an additional seal to the mix that Jiriaya claimed not to be able to recognize. The theory was that it was that seal that had been responsible for Naruto's death once the sealing process had been completed. It was Orochimaru's hope that despite the death of the infantile Jinchuriki the Kyuubi would still be within the seal for a short period while the seal deteriorated without a living host to sustain it. His plan was to attempt to harvest as much of the Kyuubi's Chakra as he could using the device he had prepared. It would be impossible to transfer the Kyuubi itself without another host which was something that he himself was completely unwilling to subject himself to so he would have to do with the power of the Kyuubi rather than it's knowledge and soul.

Now what would have been involved with using the device would have been the receivers were to be placed at different points of the body that corresponded to the eight celestial gateways with an additional receiver placed on the seal itself. From then on it was to be a simple process of initiating the device and making sure to deactivate it before it exploded from taking more than it could handle.

Now, keywords there; 'what would have.' For the moment Orochimaru actually made physical contact with the infant his eyes shot open wide with surprise. A heartbeat. Orochimaru quickly removed the device and place it aside and focused Chakra to his hands as he initiated a low level medical ninjutsu Tsunade had taught him when he had been a Genin. Designed for diagnosis it was perfect for what he needed to check.

There!

Orochimaru's face slipped into an expression of shock before it twisted into a pleased smile that would have seemed right at home on the face of a child who had just managed to crotch kick Santa and pinch his sleigh. This infant was alive. How and why were beyond hope of answering at the moment as he was beyond confident that neither Jiriaya nor the old man would have left Naruto here if there was so much as a faint inkling of the boy surviving. This child had been well and truly dead. But he was alive and the seal appeared to be still intact from a quick examination.

Orochimaru smiled even wider as he returned the device to his bag, no longer needing it and carefully picked the motionless babe up and relocated him to a soft patch of earth a few feet away from his parents.

It was a further fifteen minutes before Orochimaru left Konoha in the dust, the still sleeping Naruto in his arms and an empty battlefield in his wake. The bodies of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina in his possession.

XxxX

Time travels on, never ending and never slowing. And so, soon enough Konoha moved on and recovered from the attack of the Kyuubi, their fallen buried and honored and the Yondaime and his family honored above all else and mourned for the loss of their bodies to even bury. Orochimaru had taken the infant Jinchuriki with him and placed him in the care of one of his allies. The Sannin had no interest in raising the infant himself as he knew full well that despite his best efforts if he did so he would inevitably form an attachment to the boy which was something that was unacceptable if he wished to put the boy to any real use in the future.

He would make a point to return to the boy and his ally periodically during his continued travels to examine the Jinchuriki and prepare the child as a subject for future experimentation. He already had assembled his first genetic experiment and was to collect the boy today and coerce the child.

"Naruto-san, Orochimaru-sama is here for you." Kusagakure missing ninja Ryuhou called out when the man saw the Sannin's pale form appear a half dozen yards away from his home.

There was a blur of sheer speed as a blonde six year old child shot out of the shack like home and came to a stop next to him, smiling widely and waving at Orochimaru. "Orochimaru-sama! You're back!"

The Snake Sannin smiled at the child as he took in the physical development of his future weapon. Naruto had grown quite a bit since he last saw him. The boy had an average height for a boy his age and his blonde hair that had once been as spiky and untamed as his father had fallen to hang down past his ears. He still had those same bright blue eyes although sometimes you would see a determination within them and focus that was the product of Ryuhou's continued training. The boy's most distinguishing features, the six whisker-like birth marks on his face were no longer there, having been removed by Orochimaru himself long ago so that if a Konoha Shinobi ever happened across Naruto they would not be able to make the connection to the supposed deceased Kyuubi Jinchuriki so quickly. Currently Naruto was wearing a simple pair of dark blue shorts and a white shirt and was standing barefoot.

"Good morning Naruto-kun. Have you been listening to Ryuhou-san and training diligently for me?" Orochimaru asked as he reached the boy and his subordinate.

Naruto nodded. "You bet! Ryuhou-sensei is teaching me Genjutsu theory at the moment along with taijutsu."

Orochimaru nodded. "Good. Now then, Ryuhou, Naruto and I have business."

Ryuhou bowed in understanding. "Of course Orochimaru-sama, if you will excuse me then." And with that he left the two in peace taking this chance to prepare for Naruto's next training session.

When the Kusa missing-nin was gone Orochimaru turned and looked to Naruto with a stern expression. "Naruto-kun I would like your help with something. If you allow me and it is successful you will benefit the rewards and it will make you a more powerful Shinobi."

Naruto looked at Orochimaru and the childish expression on his face evaporated and he looked to the Sannin with a serious expression, his eyes half lidded as he shifted his posture to one more suited for a ninja than a child. "What is it you require Orochimaru-sama?"

Orochimaru hid his own surprise at the shift in attitude from Naruto and made a mental note to ask Ryuhou about the particulars of Naruto's training. The boy seemed to have a good grasp on what it was to be a Shinobi and if this shift in attitude was anything to go by, the boy knew exactly when it was necessary to make the shift into 'work mode'.

"I have in my possession a blood sample from a very old clan who's last member died six years ago. They possessed a healing factor that was closer to regeneration and longevity that granted them the time to become very powerful over time while still maintaining their bodies in their prime."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "You intend to discover if this ability can be given to others by testing it on me. Most likely due to if it results in failure the Kyuubi will prevent any fatal results?"

Orochimaru nodded. He had informed Naruto of his status as a Jinchuriki on his fifth birthday and ordered Ryuhou to assist Naruto in processing the information positively. It would seem that this was a good thing as Naruto accepted his life as a Jinchuriki and his personal loyalty to Orochimaru had increased because of that honesty.

"That is correct. But I do not foresee a failure with you as the test subject Naruto-kun. Half of your genetic code is compatible with the blood sample and you would already have the same regeneration capabilities and longevity were it not for the blood of your father proving to be the dominant gene within you."

"you collected the sample from a family member?" Naruto asked with a frown, idly wondering if Orochimaru had killed for the sample.

Orochimaru nodded. "I collected it from your mother Naruto-kun. Konoha had abandoned her as well as you when they thought you were dead. It was because of this that I was able to collect a sample of her blood, her body and it is what led me to discover you."

Naruto's eyes narrowed in anger. "So I would be truly dead had you not discovered me. Konoha would have killed me."

Orochimaru smothered another snake-like grin. Turns out honesty was quite an effective thing. With each truth given by him to Naruto, the boy developed more and more loyalty to him and disdain and hatred to Konoha. Interesting.

"I buried her body in a place far from the reach of Konoha and I can take you there after the experiment if you wish."

Naruto nodded. "I would be very grateful Orochimaru-sama. Now, when do you wish to begin the experiment, I will submit my body for this."

Orochimaru smiled widely. "Why we begin now of course."

XxxX

It was three weeks before Naruto emerged from the hidden lab where Orochimaru had taken him, the actual experiment taking three days and the recovery eating up the remainder of the time. The experiment had been successful for Naruto and his genetic structure was now completely Uzumaki with not a trace of the blood of his father left behind. The genetic modification had passed on a couple of physical changes to his appearance. His hair had shifted in pigmentation completely to a deep red and he ocean blue eyes had darkened to a violet color, further proving the removal of his father's heritage. Orochimaru-sama had told him that both these changes had brought him a closer resemblance to Kushina, his mother, something he was so happy to have.

Currently Naruto was standing in front of the grave that Orochimaru-sama had set to mark where his mother had been buried. The Snake Sannin had allowed Naruto some privacy to allow him the time to speak to his mother.

"Hi mom." Naruto started, unsure what to say or even how to say it. The way he spoke was slow and unsure, as if he were testing the way the words felt in his mouth. "It took a while but I came to see you. Did you see what Orochimaru-sama did for me? He gave me something of you to keep with me forever. I wish you could have been here to live with us. I wonder if you would be proud of me?"

"_Every mother holds pride to their child Uzumaki Naruto. You live your life with honor and never forget her and she will watch you with pride for all of time."_

Naruto's eyes snapped open wide and he dropped into a crouch as he quickly looked around, calling up his Chakra to enhance his senses to locate the speaker.

But when he couldn't even summon or even locate a single drop of Chakra within him, he paled in fear and tried to find the speaker even more desperately, fearing his impending death if he was indeed without any Chakra now. Was this a unanticipated result of the experiment? Had Orochimaru made an error that had destroyed all of his Chakra?

"_You seek without for what you will find within Uzumaki Naruto. Come, let us speak."_

And so his world went black and the last thing Naruto felt and saw was his knees hitting the ground at his mother's grave as he collapsed to his knees.

XxxXxxXxxxXxxXxxX

**Alright I know that considering the wait for the rewrite this chapter isn't very long but I felt that this was a good place to end the introduction.**

**Now as the rewrite for PETAL IN THE MAELSTROM OF SOUND I am making quite a few changes to the core of the story with the obvious being the introduction to the story and Naruto's appearance as I feel that with the Kyuubi Jinchuriki Orochimaru would not waste the opportunity to use naruto as a subject for some of his more stable experiments.**

**SO! tell me what you think of this and your thoughts on making his appearance closer to Kushina than Minato. So pretty much the experiment overwhelmed changed Naruto physically so that he takes after his mother rather than his father. **

**Does any of this make sense? It does in my head.**

**SO! READ AND REVIEW AND IF THE MAJORITY FEEL THIS IS A GOOD START TO A REWRITE I WILL CONTINUE WITH CHAPTER 2.**


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